DIY titanium stove build

[KBC]

I've been slowly putting this together as time permits and now that I ordered a new Cimarron I still have 6-8 weeks to finish it haha. Kind of copying the Seek Outside stoves. I'm making 2 of these, one for a friend and one for myself but I have more material so if I need to tweak my design I can make more.

The outside dimensions are about 10 1/4"W X 14 1/2"D and 8 1/4"H.

I was lucky enough to get a hold of some 0.025" titanium sheets and I have access to some sheet metal tools at work.

First I made the sides, 2 of each length with a 90° bend on the ends to make them a bit more rigid and to fit together:

https://i.imgur.com/Aq5wZi3.jpg?2


Then I drilled out the hole on the front and ground it down smooth. I went through quite a few small sanding drums on my die grinder on the titanium. I made a door and a couple pieces with a joggle in them to use as guides and riveted them on with Monel rivets.

https://i.imgur.com/vbDL6MB.jpg?2

https://i.imgur.com/8uv4gs4.jpg?2

Here's how the sides sit together:

https://i.imgur.com/27hOsP6.jpg

I'm going to run a rod on the inside of each corner to keep things tight. I'm just having a hard time finding some ready rod or something that will work that's light weight and strong enough. Threaded titanium rod is pretty expensive so I'm thinking of maybe finding something in the 10-32 size range or M5?

Continued on next post...

[KBC]

Then I made a top and bottom, 2 of these:

https://i.imgur.com/sfoj790.jpg?2

I was going to bend some small 90° pieces to rivet onto the corners but I think they turned out stiff enough as is and it would have been extra weight as well.

Here's some pictures all put together with a little tape:

https://i.imgur.com/pumWIh4.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/CxnEUv7.jpg?1

Everything fits into the bottom piece:

https://i.imgur.com/HqqGGMx.jpg?1

All packed up:

https://i.imgur.com/HpVFxVA.jpg?1

to be continued...

[KBC]

Now the stuff I need to finish off:
I need to decide on a stove pipe and drill the hole in the top for it. Right now I'm leaning towards just ordering the SO spark arrestor and stove pipe. I think that set up is the best one I've seen out there so far but that isn't the cheapest option either.

I need to figure out the vents in the front. I'm thinking of drilling some holes across the front similar to the SO stoves and just slipping in a cover in between the lip on the bottom and the front of the stove. I bent up a few covers to be able to let in a bit more or less air if needed. I have seen a lot of guys don't even cover the vents at all so I didn't want to make them more complicated and a more permanent install in case I don't use them. Here's a pic of them:

https://i.imgur.com/Z5GTgZE.jpg?1

You can see there's 3 of them that just slip in.

Last to figure out is what I mentioned above about figuring out the legs/rods that go through it to hold the sides tight.

Any suggestions or advice is welcome.

Cheers!

[sako79]

Looks good. If you had to buy all the materials how much do you think you'd be in it for

[whitlers]

Nice job! Looks great!

[KBC]

Looks good. If you had to buy all the materials how much do you think you'd be in it for
Not sure. If I was buying the material I'd probably go with 0.020" thick to save a bit more weight. To give you an idea of size, this one is about the same as the Seek Outside SXL and I had enough material to make 2 of them with very little waste out of a 36"x48" sheet. I didn't see on their site what thickness they use but I think these will end up a little heavier so I'm assuming they use slightly thinner material.


Nice job! Looks great!
Thanks!

[northernguy]

Where can I place my order?:lol:

Some very nice work there!

[hawk-i]

looks good :)

[Ride Red]

Looks great KBC. You can buy 3’ or 6’ stainless rod from Fastenal in 10-24. The roll up stove pipe would be the way to go for weight and being compact.

[boxhitch]

For the corners maybe a flat strap with 90's at the end that snap over the top and bottom for a friction fit?
or angle 1x1 to wrap the vertical joint but same idea, bent end to snap over edge
Like those on the Kni-Co Tundra stove

[KBC]

Thanks guys.

I’ll check out the fastenall stuff for sure. I’ll have to take a look at the Kni-co stuff for ideas.

[HarryToolips]

Looks awesome!

[3than]

Looks really good!

[wildcatter]

I may have enough titanium sheet metal to make one like this.
Somewhere have a box of rivets too.

[Bustercluck]

The vent probably doesn’t need to be anything fancy. Do you think you could cut the bottom portion of the door(stove side) on an angle and close the door all the way for no air flow and open the door part way for some airflow?

[KBC]

Well since I finally got around to finishing this, I set it up while camping this weekend to test it out. I ended up just ordering the remaining parts I needed from Seek Outside. Not sure what it weighs but it feels a little heavier than I'd hoped but as I mentioned previously the titanium sheet metal I used is 0.025" and I think the commercial ones probably use 0.020". I also went with a bit longer stove pipe in case I want to get a bigger tent for family use.

https://i.imgur.com/ITWSWXz.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/xuSSfwo.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/0exWo0o.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/RCvwEKJ.jpg?1

Should be nice for next week's hunting trip!

[srupp]

Seriously impressed with your skills and thinking THANK YOU for sharing.
I have a small stove for heating water..meals made by a Russian scientest bought as a gift..absurdly small,light and works incredibly well.
Srupp

[wildcatter]

I was hoping to make one similar, but I can't find my titanium sheet metal pieces.
I may have lost them during moving last fall.

[twoSevenO]

Looks awesome. Make sure to post a long term review once you had a chance to use it a few times

[KBC]

Thanks guys. I'm heading out for a week tomorrow so I will get some quality time with it to see what works and what doesn't.

[KBC]

Well after using it on my last hunt I think I'm going to have to make a different door. Once it heats up and warps a bit, it gets pretty tough to slide the panel closed. It's still doable but not easy. I have another 4-5 day trip coming up that I will use it again as-is but in the off season I think I'll come up with a hinged door. If anyone else has put one together post up some pics for ideas.

It sure was nice getting into a warm tent at night and being able to roll over in the morning and make it warm enough you actually want to get out of bed. I'd like to find the best fire log to use for the close to the truck camps if anyone has any advice for those as well.

[boxhitch]

A work in progress, tft update

[WhiteTailAB]

Looks great, really need one of these for my SO tent

[Brent.doornenbal]

Awesome!! I may have to try build one myself